Montreal smoked meat

The BEST place for Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwiches, is Schwarz's deli, on St. Laurent Street ( I think ) in Montreal. It is the place that has defined the Montreal Smoked Meat experience. The deli is very small, but has been around for over 70 years. They manage to serve their huge demand, by piling many groups of people together at the same table, and outputting massive amounts of take-out orders. Still their is always a large lineup at Schwarz's.

Generally a proper Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich is a HUGE pile of deli sliced smoked meat, piled between two slices of rye bread with mustard. If you ever go to Schwarz's, don't bother ordering the lean, the only true way to experience a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich from Schwarz's is to have it Full or Medium Fat.

A friend of ours brought us there when we went to Montreal to visit her. I've never had a better sandwich in my life. If anyone you know is going to Montreal, definitely get them to bring you some smoked meat, and some rye bread.

For those of you Montrealites who are understandably proud of your smoked beef, you should know that there is a subculture of Jews from New York, who, coming up to Montreal for whatever reason, buy lots of smoked beef - all we can get actually - and keep it warm on the engine of our car until we get back to New York. There, we share it with our Jewish brethren, all of whom enjoy it immensely, and wonder what strange things are going on over there in Montreal, where there seems to be a Jewish culinary scene that involves neither Bagels, nor Lox, nor even Pastrami, but rather a Jewish food experience of your very own. (I should, but won't, leave out the fact that a lot of people I knew who did this were actually smuggling cigarettes onto Saint Laurent street in the 80's when the cigarette tax in Montreal was about 5 times higher than the price of a package in NY, and before buying the smoked beef they would all go and get drunk in Foufounes Electriques...But, ah, Jewish culture is complex, is it not?